England manager Gareth Southgate has hailed the “big progress” in Marcus Rashford’s goalscoring prowess and insists the Manchester United forward “loves” playing for his country.
The 25-year-old has scored eight goals in his last 17 international appearances, including three at the 2022 World Cup.
Having netted just seven goals in his first 35 caps, Rashford’s improved recent record has mirrored his new-found killer instinct at club level.
He ended the season with 30 goals in 56 appearances for United as Southgate praised his improved output.
“The obvious thing is the goals,” he replied when asked what Rashford has brought to his game.
“I think when he has had chances this season that you expect him to score as the season has gone on. Maybe in previous seasons that was a little bit less of a certainty.
“I think, in working with Erik (ten Hag), he has had to work a bit differently without the ball. There’s been a bit more onus on that as a team. I would say the goal tally is big progress for him and something he will be pleased about.
“At the moment I still think he’s better from the left than as a nine but he’s definitely made progress as a nine this year and had a bigger impact.”
Rashford came on for the final half hour of Friday’s comfortable 4-0 win in Malta as England maintained their 100 per cent start to their Euro 2024 qualification campaign.
They host North Macedonia next, the game at Old Trafford on Monday night marking the halfway point of Group C with Southgate’s side now firm favourites to advance in top spot.
It will be a chance for Rashford to add to his impressive tally in his home stadium, with Southgate’s long-standing relationship with the player having proved key.
“I’ve had him since he was in the Under-21s, really,” he added. “He kind of came back to us because he had been up with Roy (Hodgson) and then had one game back with us.
“We’ve always had good communication, I know him as well as anybody is going to know him. He’s not always easy to read.
“He does love playing for England, he’s very proud to play for England and I’m sure an England game at Old Trafford will be a special moment for him.”
On withdrawals from international duty, the England boss continued: “I think for all the players, there was a possibility with the length of season that they’ve had that we could have a lot of pull-outs but the only players that we’ve lost are Lewis (Dunk) and Jude (Bellingham) – who spent half the camp with us anyway.
“That’s a good sign. We’ve talked to the players about commitment being an important factor over the next 18 months. The more players that are here, they can hear the messages from the games that we play.
“I think Marcus is pleased that he has been able to work with our medical team and make a lot of progress in this period of time. We were always hoping this would be the case.
“In fact, Marcus did it 18 months ago leading into the Euros. There was a camp where he was just having treatment really.
“Part of being a team is the rest of your team-mates recognising you are in on this. Just by spending time with them, you get better relationship and communication to create more of a feeling of togetherness.”
While Rashford will be itching to play at Old Trafford, Southgate also insists the Manchester City quintet in his ranks could come into the side.
John Stones, Kyle Walker, Kalvin Phillips, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden were all on the bench in Malta just six days after helping City complete the treble by beating Inter Milan in the Champions League final.
“It is possible,” Southgate said when asked if they could start, with Foden the only player to be utilised in Malta.
“There are some very talented players and important players for us so it is difficult to name a team.”
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Al-Riyadh 0-1 Al-Nassr: Mane hands visitors bragging rights
Sadio Mane's first-half strike ensured Al-Nassr maintained their unbeaten start to the Saudi Pro League season with a 1-0 win over rivals Al-Riyadh.
He smartly finished from close range in the 41st minute, with his goal enough to seal the three points and move Al-Nassr up to third in the table.
Al-Nassr's threat grew as the first half went on, with Milan Borjan making a fine double stop to deny Ronaldo and Talisca once again before Mohamed Simakan struck the post on the rebound.
Mane would eventually break the deadlock in the 41st minute though, darting in front of his marker to meet Abdulrahman Ghareeb's low cross and rifle it into the roof of the net.
The Senegalese striker arguably should have doubled his tally before the break, but was denied by Borjan's stretching save when one-on-one with the Canadian.
Talisca should have wrapped up the points in the final three minutes, but he blazed over an empty net from close range, before having a late goal disallowed for offside.
Data Debrief: Derby delight for Al-Nassr
After drawing their last two matches, this win was a welcome result for Al-Nassr as they racked up their sixth victory of the season to close the gap at the top of the table to six points.
It is just the second time Al-Nassr have avoided defeat in their first 10 matches of a Pro League campaign, last doing so in 2013-14, when they won the league title.
They are now unbeaten in their last seven Pro League derbies (W4 D3), their longest such streak since a run of nine between 2018 and 2020.
This is the first time in eight such games that they have kept a clean sheet though, and limited their opponents to just five shots throughout.
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